Bicol’s first queer lit anthology welcomes submissions

April 10, 2018

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Photo by Hisu Lee

As queerness begins to seep slowly but surely into local arts and media, we’re bound to see more expressions of this across the Philippines and not just from Manila. BKL / BIKOL BAKLA, an upcoming anthology of Bikolnon queer literature, serves this up with hyperlocal homo identity. The anthology focuses on the Bicolano perspective and allows contributors to explore how their queer and provincial identities intersect. What’s more, it’s currently open for submissions, from poetry essays to poetry in English, Filipino, Bikol.

“Besides not enjoying the same cosmopolitan conveniences as Manila—bars that cater exclusively to the queer scene, public restrooms so rarely populated that the boso-bilities are low, and the fact that one’s Grindr hook-up is probably a 30-minute drive through acacia-tree lined highways in the middle of vast rice fields—Bicol’s queer scene is equally colourful,” says Paolo Sumayao, one of the anthology’s editors. “We think its character comes from our almost cultish obsession with beauty in general, especially since South East Asia’s longest running gay-pageant, Miss Gay Bicolandia, is celebrating its 50th edition this year. It’s great to know that a huge portion of Bicol’s queer scene still revolves around folksy beauty pageants with a kind of dissonance towards highly westernized bars, straight-acting gay men, and air conditioned spaces.”

According to Sumayao, studying gay lingo and its relation to Bikolnon in college was what led him to create the anthology. “Roughly a decade ago, I was in college writing several papers on the sociolect that is gay lingo. Besides getting to talk to a lot of queer personalities from the academe and different circles, I got to listen to most of their stories, unearthing texts along the way.”

The regional voice in Philippine Queer Literature needs a special place… Although Ladlad paved the way for so much of the pragmatics in the readings of Filipino queer texts, we were looking for something highly localized.

Sumayao believes Bicol to be a special environment for queer literature. “We [the editors] felt that the regional voice in Philippine Queer Literature needs a special place… Although Ladlad paved the way for so much of the pragmatics in the readings of Filipino queer texts, we were looking for something highly localized, highly personal accounts that are borderline familiar,” he says. “We wanted to listen to the altar boy recreating Sailor Moon’s transformation scene at the town plaza during breaks, or reimagine Daragang Magayon (from the Legend of Mayon Volcano) as a transgender having her breast implants, or listen to the story of love between two fishermen at the height of a typhoon. We knew Bicol—with all its literary renaissance of late—is a great source of material for these stories.”

Lastly, Sumayao spoke about his high hopes for the anthology: “We’re envisioning discussions around our maternal devotion towards the Our Lady of Peñafrancia. beauty pageants and their cult followings, the dichotomy of orag (strength) and gayon (beauty) in our socio-cultu-literal sensibilities, the bading diaspora, the increasing rate of HIV cases due to poverty and lack of awareness, among others. Bicolanos seldom come across texts that are provocative and this anthology hopes to resolve that. With this, the Bicolano takes on a new face in Philippine literature: he’s more than Mayon, laing, Bicol Express, or pristine vacation destinations. The homo is finally home.”

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TEAM tackles how gay Filipino men relate their identity, from fuckups to fantasies, to where to go for music you can actually dance to. We may not have proper rights in our country but we’re claiming some authority by getting our words and ideas on page. And though we lack public places to convene, an open publication (and wide-open digital space) is a good place to start.